The Best Android Antivirus Apps of 2018

More phones and tablets run Android than any other mobile OS, and there's a correspondingly huge variety of malware. These 10 apps are the top performers in testing and our picks for keeping your Android device safe.

You Need Antivirus for Your Android

Installing antivirus software on your desktop computers is only sensible, but you can't stop there. Your smartphones and tablets need protection, too. The latest market estimates show almost twice as many Android users as iOS users. Likewise, there is a vast amount of malware for Android and hardly any for iOS, because iOS is locked up tight while Android is, by comparison, wide open. All this adds up to a real need for Android security software.

Android protection doesn't exist in a vacuum. The 10 products in the chart above are all cross-platform solutions, with protection available at least for Windows, macOS, and Android. Half of them also offer some form of iOS protection, though with a feature set that is limited by the closed nature of Apple's operating system.

Note that the star ratings in the chart are for the product as a whole, across all platforms. They don't necessarily reflect the quality of the Android product. For example, a failure to block ransomware on Windows and a Mac antivirus that just wasn't working pulled down BullGuard's overall score, though its Android edition tested fine.

Testing Results From the Labs

Do these Android antivirus utilities actually work? We look to three independent testing labs to find out. All the products in the chart above appear in Android-centered reports from at least one of the labs. Seven of them show up in all three reports.

Researchers at AV-Comparatives tested all ten of the products, along with 100 other Android security products. Their automated testing framework challenged each product to defend against the top 1,000 Android malware samples found in the wild. F-Secure managed 98.9 percent protection, and Webroot got 99.9 percent of the samples. All the rest achieved 100 percent protection.

The latest test from AV-Test Institute hit 21 Android antivirus solutions with 6,000 Android malware samples, half freshly gathered and half older (but no older than four weeks). Researchers also installed 3,000 non-malicious programs, to make sure that the antivirus didn't wrongly identify them as malware. They assigned each product six protection points for blocking malware, and six usability points for refraining from mistakenly blocking valid programs. F-Secure earned 5.0 protection points and 5.5 usability points. ESET took 5.5 points in both categories, while all other tested products took the full six points for both protection and usability.

London-based MRG-Effitas tested just 10 products, but seven of those overlapped with our selection. The testers installed 200 malicious samples and 20 safe ones on Android emulators protected by each of the 10 products. They also checked for weaknesses in the apps themselves. No product scored 100 percent, but Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and Webroot tied at the top with 99.3 percent. The low score went to McAfee, with 84.7 percent.

Malware Protection and More

All the Android products include an antivirus component that scans new apps and offers an on-demand scan as well. All but a couple of them can also run scans on a schedule, a feature perhaps more useful on Windows than Android. All except BullGuard offer some form of safe browsing, to keep you from surfing to URLs that might try to plant malware, or fraudulent sites that might trick you into giving away your username and password for the login page they imitate.

Most of these apps also check your installed apps for potential privacy problems; Kaspersky is the exception. Typically, they flag programs that have permission to do things like view your contacts, scan your call logs, learn your location, or send texts. If a communication app needs access to contacts, that makes sense. If a goofy game wants to paw through your private info, however, consider deleting it.

All of them also offer antitheft protection for a lost or stolen device. You can find your device's location on a map. If you've just mislaid it around the house, you can trigger a noisy alarm to help you find it. You can lock the phone to keep a thief out of your apps and data. And if you determine that you'll never get the device back, you can remotely wipe it. All the apps let you manage antitheft features using an online console. Most of them offer the option of triggering antitheft events using coded text messages. And all but Webroot, F-Secure, and BullGuard can also surreptitiously snap a photo of whoever is using your device.

One of the first things a typical smartphone thief does is claim the device by swapping out the SIM card. All the apps above except F-Secure and BullGuard include some form of SIM card protection. Some of them lock the device on SIM card change. Others notify you of the new phone number, so you can still send those coded text messages to invoke antitheft features.

Bitdefender is the only one of these products that doesn't offer to block unwanted calls. Most of the rest also say they can block unwanted texts, but in truth, this feature only works in Android versions before 4.4. Kaspersky at least spells out the limitations of this feature.

Bonus Features

Antivirus and antitheft are core components for any Android security app, but some go way beyond the basics. Common bonus features include backup for your contacts and photos, a battery monitor to show which apps are killing your battery life, and a task killer to send those battery hogs packing. Several of the apps warn when you connect to an insecure Wi-Fi network. Bitdefender, Kaspersky, and McAfee let you pair your phone with your Android Wear, so if you walk away from your phone, your watch can remind you to grab it.

As noted, almost all of these security tools scan your installed apps and report on those that might be privacy risks. Norton and Trend Micro take that skill to the next level, reporting on apps as you view them in the Play Store, so you can avoid downloading any that might be problematic.

A few of these products feature less-common bonus features. ESET lets you time-schedule your call blocking, for example, to allow only family members to call you at night. Trend Micro offers to scan your Facebook settings and warn about any security problems. Webroot has a password manager built in.

Stay Safe on All of Your Devices

So, which one should you choose? It depends on just what you need to protect, but we assume you want a suite that at least installs on your Windows and Android devices. McAfee Antivirus Plus is an Editors' Choice antivirus, with protection for unlimited devices. Kaspersky Internet Security is an Editors' Choice security suite and gets great lab scores both on Windows and Android. Bitdefender Total Security likewise pulls in top lab scores and offers a cornucopia of features on Windows; it's our Editor's Choice for security mega-suite. You won't go wrong with one of these three, but the others have their own merits. Click through the links, read the full reviews, and make your choice.

Bottom Line: As the name implies, AVG Internet Security - Unlimited lets you install protection on an unlimited number of Windows, macOS, and Android devices. However, other cross-platform multi-device s...

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About the Author

Neil Rubenking served as vice president and president of the San Francisco PC User Group for three years when the IBM PC was brand new. He was present at the formation of the Association of Shareware Professionals, and served on its board of directors. In 1986, PC Magazine brought Neil on board to handle the torrent of Turbo Pascal tips submitted by readers. By 1990, he had become PC Magazine's technical editor, and a coast-to-coast telecommuter. His "User to User" column supplied readers with tips and solutions on using DOS and Windows, his technical columns clarified fine points in programming and operating systems, and his utility articles (over forty of ... See Full Bio